New pups - help!

[ejano]

Sorry to hijack this thread and make it the digging thread, but one of the funniest things Daisy does is dig in the house - more specifically in my laundry basket and occasionally in bottom drawers. Apartment life doesn't provide a lot of digging opportunities, but she really really needs to hide those bones somewhere.

 

Thankfully both Robin and Brodie have discovered our old burn pit (papers only) which Ken cleaned up when he extended the fence. He left a few cinderblocks and the pups are happily nosing around for mice (Yes, thanks to the cat, at 12 weeks, Brodie has discovered the pleasures of hunting for mice - we've caught him two different times with a mouse!) and digging to their heart's content.

 

Back to the original question....we've put a number of different things out -- a pint sized tether ball, a Kong Frisbee hanging from a bungee cord and a lovely barrel under the pine trees (ends cut out) as well as a number of different kinds and sizes of balls. With Ladybug leading the way, they play well together for about an hour of socialization discovering new things and then when they get bored and start to tussle, I separate them. I was very pleased today to see the three of them exploring, then all lay down together for a rest without any tussles between the pups. Ladybug is a good influence on them and is much more patient than I ever would have expected such a prima donna to be..

[ejano]

I almost responded to that statement but it was fairly tangential to the main issue, so I decided to skip weighing in. But since you ask… . I think it depends on the dogs involved. I've had puppies who played constantly with an older dog and they were best friends for life. Then there are situations like Quinn and my Lhasa. From early on, it was clear that any play between them needed to be monitored and immediately interrupted if it looked like the Lhasa was feeling overwhelmed. My current stance with those two is to stop the rare bout of play after a minute or two. They're just a bad match. Quinn plays too hard for the Sheltie but it isn't an aggression issue. The Sheltie has been playing with the Lhasa his whole life and any escalations are quickly over and not heated.

 

There might be some concerns with Ejano's puppies since they are littermates and sometimes so much similarity (same age, same size, same sex) can turn into competition and aggression as they mature. Then again, I've known litter mates that were very attached to each other their whole lives. It really does depend on the individual dogs.

 

I agree with Liz (must be something in a name the dogs' relationships have to be monitored to see how they are progressing. In my research before we decided to take the two pups I read an amusing (but sadly true statement) that canine siblings like human siblings sometimes just grow up not to like each other. A male and a female of different ages is the best choice if one is going to have two dogs outside of a kennel situation (i.e. always in the house as ours are) I monitor Robin and Brodie carefully because Robin especially is showing some early tendencies to "herd" and all he wants to do is chase Brodie around and he is faster and as quick as lightening when it comes to tail biting on the run. Robin is clearly an alpha dog and I don't want him to be a bully. Brodie is a softer dog, a bit shy and not as quick and I don't want him intimidated. I also don't like them tussling and growling and rolling chewing on each other because someone will eventually get hurt. So as Liz says, separate for the most part and monitor the play. See how they get on.

 

We've made a good deal of progress in reducing their puppy squabbles by keeping them separated, and only letting them play together for about 30 minutes at a time with our older BC, Ladybug leading the way in discovering interesting new things in the yard and the pups seem happy and are attaching themselves to us instead of each other.

 

Now if only that clicker training book would arrive....free shipping from Amazon takes forever

 

Liz